Technology’s impact on the accounting industry has been ever-evolving — as it has been in most other industries.

Even so, leaders from local certified public accounting firms said new technology has helped and, in some ways, challenged their jobs — including its impact on being able to recruit millennials, who have grown up tech-savvy.

“The ability to get information has increased dramatically, and for people like us, it is a challenge. But it’s bigger than that. We are looking for people who can get that information and interpret it, not regurgitate it, but be able to tell somebody what it means.”

“Technology is great because it allows you to be accessible at all hours. But there’s a downside to it. Our young people are looking for work-life balance. The CPA life is a much faster pace than it used to be.”

“It does create a work-life balance challenge, but sometimes it helps. In our firm, when someone has children that are sick, everybody can work from home. Technology has really allowed us to be flexible.”

“Five years ago, we were impressed if we were able to automate processes by using formulas and Excel. Now, I’ll have a staff person say, ‘I can create a quick little program that’s going to automate all that.’ Where we thought we were ahead of the curve before, it’s a whole different level.”

“It’s making audits more efficient. We have programs that can do data mining, and we’re getting more insights into what’s going on with clients’ businesses whereas before, we just had industry information.”

“We created a technology consulting department and it’s implemented hundreds of software programs for businesses and nonprofit organizations. We also started two software programs — it just enables other financial reporting that companies weren’t able to do with set programs they had. We gear it to different types of businesses. We have a whole department where that’s all that we do.”